The Distracted Classroom: Transparency, Autonomy, and Pedagogy

in my role as director of my college’s teaching center, I hosted a faculty discussion of Jay R. Howard’s excellent book Discussion in the College Classroom, which recommends that we build structural methods of participation into our courses, rather than just relying on the vocal students to carry the conversation.

Autonomy. The literature on helping students take a deep approach toward their learning — as opposed to a more surface or strategic orientation — suggests they learn best when they feel a sense of autonomy in class. Another approach to the problem of digital distraction, then, would be to invite students into the process of setting the policies that will operate in the classroom.

Cathy Davidson has argued very effectively for what she calls a “class constitution” — an agreement that the class has reached together about certain aspects of how the course will operate.

quizzes: may not use external resources, graded on accuracy
questions: may use external sources, graded on participation (chemistry teacher wants students to be active and not penalized for wrong answer).

think: students consider the question. submit an answer individually
pair: instructors shows the results (no answer is given); students form groups to discuss their answers; students must agree on the answer
share: students submit an answer individually; the instructor shows the result (an answer is given)